It may be getting colder outside, but the season is ripe for social media marketers as consumers around the world are spending heavily online and inside retail stores. With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s time to make sure you have an effective strategy in place to advertise on the most popular social media platforms. Not sure where to start or feel overwhelmed by the amount of options out there? Don’t fret – we’ve prepared a handy guide for businesses to understand which social media platforms you should integrate within your digital strategy. Depending on your target audience, some of these may not be applicable. For example, if you’re managing an online store and want to push a heavy amount of sales before 2016 begins, then you should invest your resources into Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. However, if you’re in the business-to-business spectrum, you may find that LinkedIn lead generation campaigns can prove to be quite effective because companies are finalizing their budgets for next year. Conversely, if you’re selling products online, reaching out to people on LinkedIn will prove to be futile and won’t help your bottom line (you may also find your InMails marked as spam, which is never a good thing!).

Oh, and if you think about developing a plan for Google+, you may as well throw your money in the trash because it will produce the same effect. Sorry, Google+ fans.

How important is it to have a marketing plan in place during this holiday season? Well, people are getting ready to spend more – check out some of these impressive stats via HubSpot:

• Total ecommerce retail spending is expected to reach $79.5 billion dollars in the United States this year, which represents an increase of 13.9% from last year. In other words, that represents A LOT of spending being done this year.
• Holiday shoppers are beginning to utilize social media more in purchasing decision: 51% are expected to use social media for gift ideas and 50% are expected to use it to find information related to discounts, promotions, and sales.
• Pinterest, a powerful driver of ecommerce traffic for online retailers, is expected to be used by 8.8% of shoppers for holiday shopping inspiration. Facebook leads the pack at 13%.
• 40% of small and medium-sized businesses are expected to launch marketing campaigns on social media platforms to promote products and special holiday deals.
• Facebook is the king in this realm for a reason as it accounts for 50% of total social referrals and 64% of total social revenue.

As you can see, there is a wealth of potential for businesses to integrate Facebook, Instagram, and more within digital marketing strategies this holiday season. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy our guide on social media marketing this holiday season.